It's been a year since I moved to Ponyville. I've made friends: the Cakes, Reverie... the Cakes. Nevermind, I've become a total shut-in with each passing month. I've sent letters to Princess Celestia, asking if she and her sister have discovered anything new; they haven't. I started off sending letters to Pingpong every day, but slowly started forgetting; I only send them once a week or so.
Pingpong comes back to visit as often as she can. Which has been twice. Celestia and Luna are doing a fine job of keeping her occupied, from what she's drawn in her letters. I've filed every single one of those drawings into a drawer in my study's desk.
Mrs. Cake has been worried about me. I show up to work, bake, clean, and leave. Day in, day out. Mr. Cake finally started to warm up to me, I guess. He asked me what was on my mind once. I started to talk, but he walked away. I don't think he'll ever actually like me.
I visit Reverie somewhat frequently. Equestrian culture and history is always interesting. I'm still bothered by the missing pages in the Elements of Harmony books.
Princess Twilight came by the library to visit one day, a few months ago. She said she came back for nostalgia's sake. I asked her about the pages, but she dodged the question, and changed the subject to me. I thought, maybe if she trusted me more, she'd tell me, so I rolled with it. She even said she'd visit more often just to talk, but I haven't seen her since. Maybe I'll never learn what was written in those pages.
The novelty of being the only human in Equestria has worn off. I think I might be depressed.
I am definitely lonely.
***
"Dearie?" I slowly look up from a cake that I'm frosting. "You're uh..." I look back down at the cake. Frosting has piled up and threatens to topple over. I stop squeezing the tube.
"Sorry." Mrs. Cake takes a spatula and removes most of the icing, and smooths the rest out.
"It's alright, dearie. Maybe you should head home. It's getting late."
"We haven't cleaned up yet."
"I can take care of it. You run along home, and I'll see you tomorrow. And please, cheer up." I look to the floor as I hang my apron on a peg on the wall by the door.
"I'll try."
The sounds of owls and crickets pierce the quiet of the dark, sleepy town. I check my watch: one in the morning. I should cut back on my hours. As I walk through town, I notice a gray pony skulking around, hiding in the shadows, and darting around. I ignore it and continue on. Probably just some pony goofing around, or stumbling home drunk. I was surprised to learn that Equestria has alcohol, though I've never been a fan.
I arrive at my house, unlock the door, and step inside. An unwelcome visitor also enters my home before I can close the door. A bat screeches and flies through the foyer, into the living room. I cringe as I grab a broom from the kitchen.
I hate bats, and I do not appreciate this one barging into my house. The bat flutters around and lands on top of the grandfather clock as I enter the living room. I raise the broom and slowly walk over to it, hoping it will latch to the handle so I can take it outside.
Instead, it flies over to the bookcase. I hold the broom's handle over it; it leaps up and latches on. I very slowly turn, being careful not to bump anything, and start walking over to the foyer. I catch a glint of orange and a blur of gray outside the window. A loud bump from outside the window causes the bat to fly off of the handle and start screeching. I quickly drop the broom and, much to my upset, grab the bat. It writhes in my hands, but I hold fast, rush to the front door, and send it flying out into the night.
"Stay out of my territory!" I shout after the bat. I take in the night's air and look up at the stars and moon. The nights in this world are so beautiful. Sometimes, I wonder if one of those distant stars is my home's sun. I chuckle to myself, and bask in the pale moonlight.
The bushes to my right rustle a bit, and something squeaks and grunts. I walk down the steps of my patio and, against better judgment, get on all fours in front of the bush. I expect to find one of the local children, out long past their curfew, come to spy on me and pull one of their little pranks. I don't mind children, but I'd rather they left me alone.
"Hey, is someone in there? Are you alright?" The bush rustles and whimpers. I slowly reach into the bush. "I'm not gonna hurt you." My fingertips feel something soft, but it twitches and retracts. It felt like a pony's nose. I try to get a better look, but it's too dark, and the bush is too thick.
Something that sounds like words comes out of the bush, but the bush muffles the sound. I stand up, run into the house, grab an apple out of the kitchen, and run back out. The bush rustles again, almost in panic.
"Hey, hey. Calm down, I told you I'm not going to hurt you." I am a curious man, and curious men dive head first into the abyss. "I brought you an apple." What am I doing? "Can you come out of there?" I'm only doing this because the creature seems to be in distress. I suppose I'm trying to be a hero again, just like on Earth, when I worked at the animal shelters.
"It's in front of the bush. Go ahead and take it." I set the apple down and take a few steps back. The bush rustles a little more violently, but it stops as suddenly as it starts.
"I'm stuck." A soft female voice calls out. I kneel back in front of the bush and reach inside. I feel for the female and bend the branches away from her. She struggles a little bit, but gets free enough to stuck her head out of the bush. The moonlight glints off of her dull orange cat's-pupil eyes and nubby white fangs. She smiles softly as her hooves grab the apple and pull it close to her. She looks an awful lot like a pony, but the eyes and fangs are throwing me off. Is she part of a subspecies?
"My name's Anonymous. Can you come out all the way?" She retreats into the bush with a surprised look on her face.
"I'm Speck." Her voice sounds so serene. It has a hint of an accent to it, something similar to a classic Dracula, though much more subtle. A crunching sound comes from the bush.
"Why are your eyes like that? And what's with the fangs?" I realize I sound a little rude and invasive, but I'm curious.
"I'm a bat-pony. What about you? What's with your... everything?" A bat-pony? I shudder and think about running inside, but this pony doesn't seem bad, or annoying.
"I'm a human, from another world."
"Hoo...mun. Hyoomen... Humus... I don't get it." I try not to laugh as I hold a hand out to the bush.
"It isn't important. Would you like to come out of that bush?" She pokes her head out of the bush and looks up at me.
"Sure, but only if I can have another apple. I forgot to buy some from the shops earlier." She flashes a wide smile and places a hoof in my hand.
"I suppose that'll be alright."
She crawls out of the bush and sits in front of me. In the moonlight, I get a much better look at her. She has fluffy little tufts on the tips of her ears, unlike almost every other pony I've ever seen. Her dark-turquoise mane hangs over the right side of her head. Two dark-blue leathery wings rest, folded on either side of her charcoal gray body. Compared to a lot of the brighter colored ponies I've seen, this one's rather dull. She's about the same size as a full grown mare, but has no cutiemark; I wonder if bat-ponies get them.
She is just as cute and breathtaking of a sight as the first ponies I'd ever seen. But, as unique as she looks, I still shudder. I do not like bats, so I'm not sure how to feel about a pony being crossed with one.
"How about we get that apple, then?" I finally say as I stand up. She nods giddily and follows me inside, grabbing a set of brown saddle-bags from beside the bush. She takes a seat at the kitchen table as I walk over to the counter and grab an apple. "So where do you live? I've never seen you around."
"I live in a tree out in the forest."
"Oh, like the library?"
"No..." She looks away, embarrassed. "Like an actual tree. I hang from the branches and sleep like that."
"You sleep out in the open?" She nods. "Do you have an actual home? Like with walls and a roof?"
"Yeah, but it's all the way up in Hollow Shades." I remember seeing that town on a map, but never really read about it.
"Why are you all the way down here then?"
"I was told that there was someone special waiting for me here. I haven't found them yet."
"How long have you been looking for them?"
"About a year." I sit down and immediately bury my face in my hands.
"You've been living in a tree for a year?" She nods again. This pony concerns me deeply. She gets up from the table after finishing her apple.
"It isn't that bad! I should probably get going, though. I have groceries I need to put away."
"You have groceries to put away in a tree. Do you have some kind of refrigeration system in a hole in its trunk?"
"No? That would be silly. I just put them in a regular old hole." She makes a soft "keekeekee" sound as she snickers.
"So animals can get to them and steal your food, right?" She looks up to the ceiling and taps her chin with a hoof.
"Do you think that's where all my food's been disappearing to?"
"If I had to guess." She looks around the kitchen for a moment, before perking up as if she had just thought of something brilliant.
"Can I leave my groceries here? I don't think you'd steal from me!" She smiles a wide, toothy grin and hops back up in the chair, her front hooves on the table. "Pleaaaase?" She adds a head tilt. I feel my blood sugar rising and hear my heart screaming for it to stop.
"Sure. I can't see that being too much of a problem." She lets out an elated screech, which threatens to pop my ear drums. She dumps her bags out on the table. A few oranges roll around, some bread plops against the wood, and a small bundle of sugary treats lands on the bread. She keeps on smiling in a silly manner. Her fangs would definitely be making me nervous, if they weren't so dull.
"Well, thanks! I'm gonna go back to my tree and get ready to sleep, since it's almost morning."
"Morning? It's only -" I check my watch. "- two in the morning." She's already up and heading out the door. I get up and run after her. "Speck? Speck!" I yell out into the night, but she's already gone. She's fast, I'll give her that. I shrug and walk back inside; I need to be up at six so I can get ready to go back to work. I climb the stairs, enter my bedroom, change into some pajamas gifted to me by the princesses, and climb into bed.
Maybe with this pony intruding into my life, things will change, and I'll relax a little bit.
~~~
She sat down on the roof of the house. She hadn't left yet, but she didn't want to overstay her welcome, even when she heard her name being called. As the door closed, she took to the skies, flying toward the forest. She sat at the base of the tree and picked up a small brown package, shook it, and opened it.
Inside, she found a brick. As annoying as it was to add yet another to her abundant collection, she still cherished it and put it with the rest before climbing into the tree.
"Maybe I'll stay here in Ponyville, just a little while longer." She would whisper to herself, pulling a small piece of parchment from a hole in the tree. On that parchment was a crude drawing of her hugging a big heart with a question mark written on it. She smiled and put it back before settling herself on a branch. The upside-down town disappeared from her view as she fell asleep.
Tomorrow would bring new beginnings.